Australia's Child Abuse

A 12-year-old refugee boy on hunger strike on Nauru for more than a fortnight is at imminent risk of dying, medical staff on the island say, but efforts to move him to hospital care in Australia have foundered. The 12-year-old boy has been held on Nauru with his mother, father and sister for nearly five years. The family, from Iran, have been recognised as refugees but were recently rejected for resettlement in the US. Almost all Iranian refugees have been rejected by America. The boy has refused food and fluids for between eight and 15 days, medical sources on the island say. He is being sedated so he can be given fluids intravenously to keep him alive.

He is one of several critical child cases on the island – including a 14-year-old boy with muscle wastage so severe he may never walk normally again. He has not left his bed for more than four months is also being taken from the island. The boy’s mental health has deteriorated so badly he no longer feeds, cleans, toilets or cares for himself.

Then there is a two-year-old child whose parents are too unwell to care for him. His mother attempted suicide at the front gate of the processing centre and was too unwell to care for him. The child is now in the care of another family member.

Staff on the island report a looming crisis in children’s health. Children on the island had been diagnosed with the severe “major depressive disorder and pervasive refusal syndrome” – a rare but serious child psychiatric disorder, also referred to as “resignation syndrome”, which has been documented at high rates among asylum seeker children. Children refuse to eat, drink, talk, walk, or toilet themselves, in some cases even open their eyes.

“Everyone on the island knows how serious this is. We have been saying for months a child is going to die in these circumstances,” an on-island official with knowledge of the medical situation told the Guardian. “A child is going to die. Every day we get closer. It’s never been so critical.”